


Ashes

by ChelleBee53



Category: Calvin & Hobbes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24799612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelleBee53/pseuds/ChelleBee53
Summary: This AU story (I'm sure Calvin's father wouldn't really have done such a thing!) was inspired in part by the legend of the phoenix, in part by Margery Williams Bianco's "The Velveteen Rabbit", and in part by a real-life incident. I wrote it in loving memory of Mitten, who should never have been taken from me.Calvin and Hobbes was created by Bill Watterson.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Ashes

"Mom! Dad! I can't find Hobbes anywhere!"

"He'll show up," Calvin's Mom assured him.

"No," her husband contradicted her, "he won't."

"What do you mean, 'he won't'?" Calvin's Mom asked.

"I couldn't stand the sight of that stupid toy any more," Calvin's father began.

His wife and son spoke simultaneously.

"What did you do?"

"I took that stupid toy," Calvin's father said, "and ripped it to shreds. And then I burned the scraps. That  
stupid toy," he concluded, "is nothing but ashes on the ash heap."

"I hate you!" Calvin yelled.

He ran to his room and slammed the door.

"Damn you!" Calvin's Mom hissed at her husband. "How could you do such a thing?"

"He was getting too old to pretend that that stupid toy was a real tiger," Calvin's Dad insisted.

"Stop calling Hobbes a stupid toy! He was Calvin's most treasured possession."

Nobody in that house slept well that night.

Calvin kept waking up, looking for Hobbes, and then remembering.

Calvin's Mom lay in bed, her back to her husband, still angry at him. But even more, she  
ached for their child.

She remembered her own lost favorite doll.

But her doll had been lost in a fire.

This was worse, much, much worse.

Calvin's favorite toy had been destroyed by someone Calvin loved and trusted.

Calvin's father lay awake too.

He wouldn't admit it, but he was regretting... oh, how he was regretting... what he had done.

He saw, now, that his actions had been too hasty.

He wondered how... he wondered if ... he could make it up to Calvin.

A wind came up. The cold ashes rose from the ash heap, and began to swirl, to whirl, to form into a shape.

The next morning, when Calvin's Mom opened the door to bring in the newspaper, a kitten ran inside,  
ran over to Calvin and rubbed against his legs, purring.

The kitten looked like a little tiger. He looked in fact, just like Hobbes.

,

"Hobbes! Is that you? Is that really you?"

The kitten responded with a purr... or was it a friendly tiger growl?

"It is you! Oh, Hobbes!"

That night, Calvin slept contentedly, with his new kitten curled up on his bed.

Meanwhile, Calvin's parents were talking in the living room.

"Now that Calvin has that kitten, I'll bet he won't miss that stup- that stuffed tiger," Calvin's father said.

"Maybe," Calvin's mother conceded. "But will he ever forget what you did?"


End file.
